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Why we don't have 128-bit CPUs
(www.xda-developers.com)
Uh, the PlayStation 2 would like a word?
Not true 128 bit. It has 128 bit SIMD capabilities, but that’s about it. Probably mostly because of marketing reasons to show how much better it is than N64 (which also is “64 bit” for marketing reasons).
In that case, we’re having 512 bit computers now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVX-512
so i guess the next bit after 64 cpu is qu-bit, quantum bit
Probably not in consumer grade products in any foreseeable future.
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Would it be a downside? Slower? Very costly?
More complexity with barely any (practical) benefits for consumers.
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Okay, so why can't we just not use exponentially growing values? Like 96 bit (64 + 36). I'd the something intrinsic about the size increases that they HAVE to be exponential? Why not linear scaling? 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, etc.
Because CPU registers are all powers of 2, i.e. exponential in this fashion. And it's also just the same reason - 64 is high enough, why go to 96 or 80 or something?
In binary, when you add one more numeric place, things double. Not doubling would be like having two digit decimal numbers but only allowing people to count to 50.
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this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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